


Brief oasis

by teskodanceparty



Category: The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-23
Updated: 2012-02-23
Packaged: 2017-10-31 14:57:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/345402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teskodanceparty/pseuds/teskodanceparty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She hated to be back in Cairo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brief oasis

She hated to be back in Cairo, and that thought surprised her more than anything else had since her arrival in the city late last night. She was however glad to be out of the sky as well as churning waves of the Mediterranean. The city that had once been her home now sprawled out into unfamiliar streets before her. She was beginning to regret declining Jonathan's offer to guide her. But she needed to do this alone, and Jonathan was more bother than he was worth on even his best days, so she was alone.

All Rick knew of this was that she needed to return to the Museum at Cairo to speak to the new curator about they're adventure in Hamunaptra. She hated lying to him, but had she told him anything resembling the truth he would have tied her to her bed and had someone guarding the door twenty-four/seven. She had accomplished that task in a matter of minutes and was now on her own quest. Her boots are muffled by the dirt she kicks up as she walks through the city, gathering supplies from venders and heading to the docks. She hadn't been on a boat in almost two years.

She wasn't at all surprised when the boat was raided, though she did freeze up a few times, expecting Rick or Jonathan to come around the corner to pull her to safety. Obviously she knew that wasn't going to be the case, as she jumped off the side of the boat. She had her bag with her this time so she wasn't nearly so upset when she surfaced on the same river bank she had the last time she was here.

"Looks like your still on the wrong side of the river, Benny." She mumbled for no particular reason as she lay on her back, ignoring the sand sticking to her clothes.

By the time she got to the little village she felt like death, covered in sand and dirt and in desperate need of a wash. The family she had stayed with the last time she was here recognized her by her eyes alone. They helped her to a bath, one of the younger women scrubbing her back for her. They didn't try to dress her this time, letting she fumble into her only other outfit, riding pants and boots and a man's shirt. She bought a camel, finally understanding why Jonathan had always been so upset about paying for them. She preferred camels to horses, she decided as she rode in the direction she remembered them going all those years ago, petting her camels head as she went.

It was days before the desert looked any different to her. There was a haze over the land and she stopped her camel, waiting for the ruins to appear. She gasped when she saw the destroyed city. That is our doing; she thought as she pressed forward to examine the mess she had started. Sometimes she wondered where she would be had she not been so curious.

Had she not read from the book would she still be living in Cairo, working at the Museum? Would she have ever moved to England with Rick and Jonathan? Dozens of people would still be alive if it weren't for Imhotep. Mr. Daniels, that Egyptologist, even Benny, though she didn't exactly feel sorry about him. She planned to make camp there for the night, so she pulled her things out of the saddlebags on her camel and put up her small tent, building a fire when the sun went down and the wind grew cold.

She was beginning to doze off to sleep when she heard it, muffled footsteps not far from where she lay. She had intentionally kept the fire high, both to keep her warm and make her presence here known. She crawled out of her tent, keeping low to the ground. There were a dozen men searching the city from where she could see them. She crept to her camel. She had a gun kept there, though she didn't want to use it, it was better to be prepared for whatever could happen next. She was so concentrated on stealthily retrieving her pistol that she didn't notice when someone crept up behind her. She didn't notice until they were holding a sword to her throat and pulling her to her feet.

"You should not be here." He said, and she recognized that voice. She could probably recognize that voice in the dark with her hands over her ears. She smiled and said,

"What if I just wanted to stop by for a chat with an old friend?" Just to hear him gasp. He did and dropped his sword from her neck. He called to his men to leave him, he had eliminated the threat he told them. She waited until she heard the hoof beats of their horses grow farther away before turning to him. He looked the same as when they had last met. His skin was tanned from living in the desert and the tattoos across his forehead and cheeks were just as mesmerizing. He smiled, flashing beautiful white teeth in the dark before speaking again.

"It is good to see you." He said, and he stepped towards her. She closed the distance fast and wrapped him in a hug around his middle. His strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her fast to his chest. His beard tickled along her forehead when she looked up and told him why she was here. His eyes darkened and his brow furrowed. Finally he sat her down back in her tent and went for his horse, giving them time to think. She pulled off her boots and wiggled her toes in the sand. It was still warm from the blistering heat of the day and the fire just feet away from her. This was one of the things she missed most about Egypt she decided and lay down to look up at the top of the tent.

When he returned he arched an eyebrow in question, as she sat up and motioned for him to sit. He kept what distance he could in the small enclosed space, and when he spoke she glared at him.

"You still should not be here Evelyn." He said and wouldn't meet her eyes. She couldn't imagine why, she hadn't told him the entire truth of her return to Egypt, just the basics. It's what she told Rick as well, just the basics. She missed Egypt, wanted to see it one more time on her own before she was married. She flinched at the thought. She was engaged to Richard O'Connell, and yet here she was, in the middle of the desert hundreds of miles away, with another man in her tent. She smiled at the thought. He gives her the same questioning, calculating stare. She rolls her eyes at him.

"Ardeth," she whispered his name for the first time like a prayer. His eyes widen and he swallows. She moves closer and whispers his name again, a bit louder now.

"Evelyn, Rick is my friend."

"Call me Evie, Ardeth. He's my friends as well." He laughed at her, and it was a bitter sound.

"You will marry him when you return to England will you not? You call that friendship?" He says and she can hear the pain in his voice under the dark humor. She nods and holds up a hand when he begins to laugh again.

"I love Rick, he's… well he's everything I should want, I suppose." Ardeth rolls his eyes now.

"You should want him, what is that supposed to mean?" He asks as he turns to her, she smiles at that small progression and scoots closer to him still. She doesn't stop until they are pressed to each other's side, staring at the fire out of the tent flaps. They are silent for some time; so long in fact she doesn't notice it when he is holding her hand in his at first. He rubs his thumb along the length of each of her fingers and she can't hide the shiver that runs up her spine. He holds her hand close to his mouth then and whispers "If he is what you should want, than what is it that you truly desire?"

She gasps as his breath rushes out against her hand. He presses his lips along her fingers, like his thumb before them and she shuts her eyes, in contentment. She keeps them closed, letting her sense of touch take over and send waves of pleasure from her fingertips down to her toes.

"Evelyn you didn't answer my question." He says and his voice is very close. She doesn't open her eyes or answer. Instead she listens to him, the clink of his weapons as he lays them down beside were they are sitting, the rustle of cloth as he removes his turban. She doesn't open her eyes until he grabs her face in his hands.

"Evelyn, you still haven't answered my question." He says, and her eyes flutter shut as his thumb caresses a line along her cheek. She shakes her head a little to clear it and opens her eyes. She snaps them shut quickly and exhales, chuckling shakily. His gaze is still just as intense, and never leaves her face. She can feel it still with her eyes squeezed tight. She licks her lips, and opens her mouth to answer. She changes her mind and pulls him by the front of his robes until they are pressed together. His lips are warm and after the initial surprise of her actions he responds enthusiastically.

When they separate she's gasping for breath and his warm brown eyes are smoldering. He has a hold of her high on her waist, just below her breasts and she bites back a moan when his thumb grazes higher. She is shaking in anticipation and finally,

"You," she breathes and he lifts her, placing her in his lap. Her knees bump the back of his arms and her hands are tangled in his hair, "Always it's been you," she murmurs as he pulls the bottom of her shirt from her pants and runs his hands up her spine. And then something chimes in her mind and she grabs a handful of his hair, pulls his face away from hers and arches an eyebrow. "I thought I told you to, oh bother." She mumbles and brings his mouth back to her own. He is smiling against her lips. His mouth leaves hers and travels down the side of her neck he chuckles. "Tell me Evelyn." She thinks he says, and though she's breathing heavily and her head is swimming. The way he says her name makes her shiver

"I didn't know when you attacked our camp that first night this would happen; you were just…oh," she sighs. He has his hands on her legs, running up and down her thighs and squeezing her bottom when she stops speaking. She doesn't even know where to start to try and remove the clothes covering his top half, so she rubs her hands up and down his chest, tangling her fingers in his hair again and kissing him before he bites down hard on her bottom lip. She gasps and her eyes fly open. There's a spot of blood on his bottom lip as he says "Continue Evie, don't let me distract you."

The smirk on his face tells her that distract her is exactly what he's trying to do, but she'll play along. Before she speaks again she grasps his chin in her hand and pulls his bottom lip between her teeth. He hisses, but his eyes fall shut, and his head rolls back just enough to expose his neck. She kisses up from the neck of his shirt to the line of his jaw, licking his bottom lip before whispering "You were everywhere we went. Around every corner once you had made yourself known. Oh lord," she whimpered as he ripped the front of her shirt open. Buttons scattered and ricocheted off the walls and he nibbled down from her neck to the mound of her breast. She was panting now.

"Ardeth I-" she begins and the sentence dies in her throat with his hands massaging the back of her thighs, lifting her just enough to drop her onto him. She moans and scrambles her fingers at the layers of clothes he's still wearing. She wishes she was stronger, that he was wearing a simple button up that she could pull open by taking a fist full of the fabric and pulling. Instead she gathers it in her palms and pulls up and he raises his hands over his head to accommodate her need. She smiles at the line of hair starting at the center of his chest and leading down. She runs her hand through it and spreads her fingers to include the broad expanse of his chest.

He brushes the shirt he's destroyed off of her shoulders and pulls her closer than she was, closer than she thought they could be. He's speaking in his native tongue, she doesn't understand what he says but still she nods. He leans her upper body away from him, and she holds herself up until he licks a line up to the edge of her bra from her belly button. Her elbows give out and she is lying with her head on her makeshift pillow, her mid section in the air and the rest of her in his lap. He sets her down, and lies on top of her, holding the majority of his weight on his arms. She is looking in his eyes and happy beyond anything she's felt in a long time. She looks down and away and has to avert her eyes. She's blushing and he's chuckling again. The sound, rich and husky and deeper than his voice usually is sends shivers up her spine again, and she doesn't hide it.

"Evie we-" he begins and she hushes him, runs a finger through that strip of hair all the way down to his waist band and tugs. He smiles as his eyes fall shut and she whispers "Evelyn, please," and when he arches an eyebrow she adds, blushing, "I love the way it sounds when you say my name." he smiles. His response is enough to have her biting her lip to suppress a moan again. "I look forward to hearing you say my name. Scream it for me Evelyn."

She's not sure when they it happened, but they were both naked and panting the next time she stops to think. He is breathing heavily in her ear and she brushes the hair stuck to his forehead away before kissing him. Her legs are tangled with his and she tries to sit up and fails. His laugh never stops being as melodious as it was the first time she heard it. She rolls on top of him and grins. His eyes are hooded, his pupils dilated and he moans.

She shifts her hips and presses down, gently and he moans again. She pulls away and smirks and he whispers her name. She repeats this until he's moaning her name over and over again like a mantra. When they're spent she falls forward, her hair cascading over her shoulder and she kisses him one last time before sliding away and lying next to him, pulling his arm around her. She falls asleep with his name on the tip of her tongue.

She's being shaken awake and she groans rolling over and batting at the hands that had a hold of her

"Evie, Evie wake up. Evie wake up, are you alright?" She hears him say and moans before saying

"I told you not to call me that." She rubs sleep from her eyes and freezes. She's not in some shanty tent, in the middle of the desert waking up in the arms of a Medjai. She's in England and Rick is looking down at her like she's gone a bit mad.

"Honey, you were screaming in your sleep. Were you having flashbacks to Egypt or something?" he asks and she blushes and nods. Of course she had been screaming his name, he'd wanted her to.

Hundreds of miles away in the middle of the Egyptian desert he wakes with a start. He says, "Evelyn," and groans. He is the only one in his tent, save the faint smell of her perfume in the air that came with the dream.


End file.
